The committee formed to recommend new members and chairpersons of two transitional justice mechanisms — the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and the Commission of Investigation on Enforced Disappeared Persons — has extended the deadline for submission of applications till April 30.

Committee member Sharmila Karki said the committee decided to extend the deadline for submission of applications as per the advice of stakeholders and victims. She said the committee would also allow NGOs to recommend persons to serve the TRC and the CIEDP, with the consent of the aspirants.

Sharma said the committee had received applications from 38 individuals till today and the committee would begin short-listing the candidates soon. “We’ll recommend names before May 15,” Karki said.

Interested candidates need to fill an application form and submit it to the committee’s secretariat at the Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs by April 30.

The committee will then compile a list of prospective candidates eligible for the posts based on Sections 4 and 5 of the Transitional Justice Act.

The selection process states that the committee can also list any eligible person’s name even if that person has not filled application form, considering special qualification and experience of that person.

The committee will publish the list of prospective candidates before publishing a five-day notice seeking complaints against them. After carefully studying the complaints, if any, the committee will recommend chairpersons and members of the commissions as per Section 3 (2) of the act, which states that the commissions will have five members, including at least one woman member each.

Conflict victims, however, opposed the committee for ‘unilaterally’ endorsing the selection process without consulting them.

A version of this article appears in print on April 18, 2019 of The Himalayan Times.